Posted - 14 Mar 2017 : 12:52:19 One problem that has to be urgently addressed is WHERE DO YOU SITE A NEW TIP ? Anywhere it will be the source of NOT IN MY BACK YARD!! thinking from those who live near the NEW SITE.

The case of the Bakoteh dumpsite has been lingering for far too long.

Over the past 10 or more years, the people, especially residents of Bakoteh and its environs, have been drawing the attention of the government (since the Jammeh regime) to the fact that the dumpsite in Bakoteh has been very unhealthy as it has exposed them to serious hazards and all kinds of diseases.

The calls of the people have over the years been unheeded by the former regime, while residents and passers-by in that area have been bearing the suffocation with bad smell and dangerous toxic substances oozing from the dumpsite.

We understand that a couple of years ago, the Kanifing Municipal Council and the JMP Company Limited, an Italian-based company, signed the Bakoteh dumpsite project to rehabilitate the dump. However, that deal or agreement is yet to see the light.

While the ambivalence over relocating the dumpsite continues, residents of the Bakoteh, Manjai and the surroundings are enduring the bad and disease-prone odour oozing out of that site.

Whoever, including strangers to this country that passes by, whether by car or by foot, would face the horrible smell coming out from the stink and toxic waste substance of the dump in that place.

This is hazardous to human health or lives; hence something must be done quickly to change the horrible story of that environment.

Before the change of government, people could not make their anger and dissatisfaction openly known; hence they were living in pain and suffering in the disease-stricken environment. And which is why they booted out the former regime because many dissatisfying mishaps were taking place in the lives of the people that none could speak about openly.

The people have, therefore, voted in a new regime to help them solve their problems. This must be seen to be done by the new powers that be.

The new government, therefore, should not let the people down; the authorities concerned must take the necessary action to change their disease-prone environment for the better!